Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED

Entry Date: 19/3/2024 (Summary in retrospect)

I purchased this lens back in 2019 just before the tax increase to 10% was implemented in Japan. In all honesty, it was sort of an impulse purchase - I had the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG lens (the last lens before the Art series was introduced) then, so I did not really need the 105/1.4, but trying it out in stores in the past left me yearning for it, so when the impending tax increase, together with a cashback campaign promotion and lowered street prices all fell into place together, it just gave me the last push needed to sell the 85/1.4 and grab this lens.

The 105/1.4 is every bit as phenomenal as I expected it to be - when shot wide open, there is plenty of sharpness in the focus region, smooth and non-distracting bokeh of the out-of-focus regions, and more importantly, very gradual and smooth transitions in the mid-regions. Stopping down the lens does improve the sharpness and crispness of the images a bit, but as sharpness is already on a very high level wide open, most of the time I am stopping down just for extra depth-of-field rather than for the extra sharpness benefits. The overall rendering is always very pleasing to the eye, and while this is highly subjective and non-quantifiable, there seems to be something just magical about how the images come out whenever I use this lens.

There is some mechanical vignetting (cat’s eyes bokeh) when shot wide open, but it is not overwhelming and adds a bit of a swirl look to the images when done properly. Similarly stopping down to f/2 or so improves the situation and creates a more balanced and neutral point light rendering.

LoCA is quite negligible even at f/1.4, though at very high contrast regions just in front or behind the plane of focus it might be a little more pronounced. Distortion also appears to be very well controlled too and I normally do not apply distortion correction to my images.

Autofocus speeds were not class leading - it seems that the algorithm prioritizes accuracy over speed. While small shifts in AF position happens quickly, going from infinity to MFD or vice versa does take quite a bit of time. It is also not exactly silent (especially nowadays since we are used to mirrorless lenses with stepper motors), and the electronic diaphragm makes a bit of noise too (more on this later), but for normal photography they do not pose any hindrance at all.

Focusing on subjects at or near MFD wide open does lower the overall sharpness of the image a bit as spherical aberrations become more pronounced. Though it does not look like the dreamy smudged look from vintage, there’s a touch of softness to the images when shot at such distances, which can usually be negated by stopping the lens down a couple of stops. That being said, this is by no means a macro lens, and the MFD is pretty long (around 1m), so even close up shots would get you a very low magnification ratio; this is the only downside of the lens I could think off as there are definitely times whereby I wished I could focus just a bit closer.

I used it with my D800 initially, and was totally impressed with the images I was getting out of that combination. The D800 is not known to be a fast or very accurate focusing body, but it had no trouble following my cat walking around leisurely. A running cat was a slightly different story though - I’d attribute it more towards the D800’s inability to track properly rather than the 105/1.4E’s motors.

When I used the lens via FTZ adapter on the Z6, the hit rate increased tremendously - the AF was way more accurate with the Z6 for still subjects, and even with Single Point AF-C moving subjects proved to be not much of an issue to it as well. The added stabilization from the IBIS of the Z6 also aided in getting more keepers especially at lower shutter speeds. When Eye-AF for animals was introduced to the Z6 in a later firmware update, the 105/1.4 also showed no issues tracking the eyes of the furry creature roaming around in my house.

My experience with its AF performance on the Z7 was similar too, albeit having slightly lower accuracy or some AF hunting when shooting in low light situations due to the less sensitive imaging sensor. But the AA-filterless 45MP sensor of the Z7 showed off how much details the 105/1.4 is able to capture and render, and the files from this combination is absolutely gorgeous.

I purchased the Z8 last year on release day, and using this lens with it definitely brought out the lens’ full potential - the beautifully detailed files obtainable with the 45MP sensor, as well as the high AF performance of the Z8 now makes running furry creature shots a reality. Granted it still takes some time to acquire initial focus due to the nature of the 105/1.4’s AF motors, but once initial AF is acquired tracking via minute adjustments to the distances were done quick enough to keep up with moving subjects. However I would advise against using it against really fast animals (say chipmunks or birds); this was never a 70-200 class AF motor!

Now back to the topic of the electronic diaphragm, when used on the Gen 1 mirrorless bodies like the Z6 or Z7, the aperture blades would do a quick “chattering” when the camera is powered on, and the noise from the aperture blades is quite prominent in this case. The subsequent bodies do not have this “chattering” boot up sequence, but you still can hear the blades open up from its sleep position (f/8-ish) to the working aperture when the camera is turned on. While I am quite certain this noise would not affect shooting at all, I guess this good information to know in case you are wondering what the noise is?

I always love the images I am getting out of this lens, and used with the Z8 it has become infinitely way more practical to use in nearly all situations that I would use it in. This is one lens I foresee I will hold on to for a long time, and as of now is the only F-mount lens I still own. Well, until perhaps a mystical Plena 105mm f/1.4 comes out I guess. Even so, I think a Plena 105mm f/1.4 must provide some additional advantages or improvements to force me to part with this lens (say, much better close focusing distance?)